About Us

Every time you choose to walk through the doors at First Ruston you will enjoy great music (traditional or contemporary), an upbeat atmosphere and teaching aimed at helping us deal with real life issues.

Resources

About Us

Every time you choose to walk through the doors at First Ruston you will enjoy great music (traditional or contemporary), an upbeat atmosphere and teaching aimed at helping us deal with real life issues.

Resources

E Thoughts

Esther, the Humble Jewish Queen of Persia . . .

Esther, the Humble Jewish Queen of Persia . . .

"On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king's hall . . .. Then the king asked, 'What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.' 'If it pleases the king,' replied Esther . . .." Esther 5: 1a, 3-4a (NIV)

The evil prime minister of Persia was Haman, a man bound for impaling because, well, that's what God decreed ahead of time when Haman, because of hatred sparked by pride, vowed to exterminate every last Jew in the land.

Yeah, uh, that's going to be a "no" every time on Jew Extermination. Jesus would be born a Jew, and you don't exterminate Jesus, prime minister of Persia or not.

For no reason other than jealousy and pride, Haman wanted one Jew killed especially, Mordecai. And while he was at it, why not the rest of the Jews too? Haman didn't know Mordecai was the cousin of Esther, the king's wife. He'll find that out soon, on the same day the king has him killed.

To foil Haman's plot, check out what Esther doesn't do. She doesn't panic. She doesn't plot some sensational plan of revenge with the goal of making herself and Mordecai look good. She doesn't have Haman assassinated.

Instead, let's look now at what Esther does do. She decides to let the king handle it. And to do that, she prepares to meet the king.

She asks friends to pray and fast with her. She puts on her royal robes. With wisdom in timing and with humility, she allowed divine sovereignty to make a call that was not hers to make. Instead, she lived her role and let the king . . . and ultimately God . . . handle this monumental issue.

And He did. She turned things over to the king.

In God Calling, I read this last week: "Aim at killing the self now . . . in your daily life, and then, and not until then, you will find there is nothing that even remembers injury, because the only one injured, the self, is dead."

Do you know how many times I have tried to "get back" at people? I don't know either, but it's the same amount of times, exactly, that my plan backfired. The wrong we do to others, we do to ourselves. Haman finds that out too late next week, the fatal lesson in the old adage: pride goeth before an impaling.